Sustainable rural development: alternative energy, natural resources offer options.

• Author: Stricker, Julie
• Position: NATIVE BUSINESS

The 2010 Census showed a troubling trend for rural Alaska: While the state's urban areas and rural hub communities grew, that growth came in part from the state's smaller, more remote areas. The population of the Yukon-Koyukuk region alone fell almost 15 percent.

While the reasons given for out-migration from villages can vary, three factors are most often cited: high cost of living, lack of economic opportunity and lack of access.

"One of the biggest challenges facing rural Alaska is that the population is small and scattered. There isn't any base for viable economic development unless there are resource development projects that can bring new money in, and keep it in the community," said economics professor Scott Goldsmith of the Institute of Social and Economic Research at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

REMOTE, RURAL ALASKA

Goldsmith defines remote, rural Alaska as the off-road portion of the state not served by the ferry system. It's an area larger by half than Texas with a population of about 60,500, 78 percent of whom are Alaska Native.

The Community Development Quota (CDQ) program has been somewhat successful in bringing money from Bering Sea fisheries to coastal villages, Goldsmith said, but for the vast inland part of the state, resource development holds the most promise.

Natural resources present an opportunity, he said. "The question is how can the community take maximum advantage of the opportunity?"

In Northwest Alaska, NANA Regional Corp. aims to take full advantage of their resource opportunities, which include one of the world's richest zinc deposits, Red Dog Mine. Until recently, Red Dog was the largest zinc mine in the world (a mine in India now claims that title). In operation since 1989, Red Dog produces 100 million tons of zinc concentrate annually and creates hundreds of high-paying jobs in a region where jobs of any kind are scarce.

Thirty percent of the Northwest Arctic Borough's private jobs come from Red Dog, which had a $52 million payroll in 2009. NANA also collects royalties from the mine, which has helped it fund a variety of community and regional projects.

"Certainly, what has paid the bills to date is Red Dog," said Lance Miller, vice president of resources for NANA Regional Corp. "Red Dog and minerals are to the Northwest Arctic Borough as the North Slope and oil is to Alaska."

In 2010, NANA and Teck Alaska Inc., which operates the mine, opened the Aqqaluk Deposit, which is expected to extend the...